Horror of Yakima
by WhiteIce
Summary: What if Carly really had to leave for Yakima? But what if her grandfather had ulterior motives for bringing her there?  Carly and Nell, her new friend, have to figure out a way to solve the mystery behind the town before it's too late for Carly.
1. Chapter 1

_**What if Carly really had left with her grandfather?**  
_

"There we are: Yakima."

**Shows Carly in school, sitting at a lunch table by herself and looking depressed. Then a short girl with red hair and blue eyes appears.**

"Hi, I'm Nell."

**_But maybe Yakima isn't as safe as it appears?_**

"There's rumors about your house."

**Shows Carly walking tentatively into a dark room.**

"They say it's haunted….

**A old wooden staircase that Carly is on collapses. **

"That it's filled with the souls of dead people…."

**A wall suddenly sprouts black mold.**

"That have died in there."

**Shows Carly talking on the phone.**

"There's something wrong with this town."

**Everyone stares at Carly as she walks past in the town square.**

"I don't know what it is."

**Shows a girl getting stabbed by a mysterious figure. **

"But it scares me."

**Everything goes black and you hear a dial tone.**

**Shows Nell talking to Carly.**

"Carly, you were brought here for a reason!"

**Shows Carly running as she holds a cell phone in her hands.**

"Spencer help me!"

**_This October…_**

Shows Carly hiding behind a staircase

_**Just in time for Halloween**_

**Shows Sam unsheathing a sword**

"This place is wicked sweet!"

**_WhiteIce brings you_**

**Shows Carly yelling at Nell.**

"I have to help them!"

_**The Halloween event of **_

** Shows Spencer shoving his grandfather up against a wall.**

"Where's my sister!?"

_**The Horror of Yamika**_

_**Everything goes black, but you can hear Carly's voice faintly.**_

___ "Guys, help me..."_

_**Yeah, I kind of took the iWanna Stay With Spencer idea and ran with it. But I think it'll **__ac**tually be really good. This is my first trailer and my first iCarly fanfic, so review a lot! I also don't own iCarly.**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Including the trailer, and for the whole story, I do not own iCarly. **

_Dear Freddie,_

_Yakima, despite what my grandfather says, is a horrible place to live. I'm behind in all my classes, which means I get extra homework. My science teacher is as bad as Ms. Briggs and nobody here seems to want to talk to me. I've promised Granddad that I'll try and make some effort to like school though. Fat chance. _

_I miss you and Sam. I even miss taking the blame for Sam's spitballs. I hope Spencer's okay. Try to talk to him and tell him this isn't his fault, okay? And don't tell him that I'm having problems with Yakima. He already blames himself-_

"Aaaaah!" Carly shrieked as the remains of a girl's lunch landed on her letter. She tried to salvage the letter, but a second later was hit with a hot dog that smeared her shirt with ketchup and mustard. Ignoring the jeers from the on-lookers, Carly picked up the letter which was now utterly ruined. Carly feebly tried to pick the hot dog off of her shirt, holding back a furious scream.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! It was an accident, honest!" Carly looked up to see a harried looking girl with a sympathetic face holding out napkins. Carly took the napkins and began to swipe at her shirt as the girl began making even more apologies.

"No wonder she has so much food on herself, she got hit with the fatty's lunch tray!" A boy called out, causing a nearby lunch table to guffaw. Carly cast them a dirty look and turned back to the girl, looking at her properly for the first time.

The girl wasn't really fat, just a bit plump. Her straight, dark red hair framed her face and hid her large blue eyes. She had a worried expression on her face and looked terrified that Carly was going to rip her head off. Carly felt her gut give a lurch of sympathy. She gave the girl a small smile and rolled her eyes at the laughing people. "Forget them."

The girl nodded. She slowly sat down opposite Carly at the empty lunch table. "Again, I'm really sorry."

"It's okay, I didn't like this shirt anyway. I'm Carly." She gave the girl an even bigger smile this time.

"Nellie, but you can call me Nell." Nell slowly smiled at her. "If you want, you can wear my sweatshirt." She shrugged it off and handed it to Carly, who gratefully put it on, covering up the mustard and ketchup stains. Considering that Nell was a bit bigger than her, the sweatshirt seemed to envelope her, but it was better than walking around with hotdog stuck to your shirt for the rest of the day.

"Hey, aren't you in my science class?" Carly suddenly recognized her. She was usually very quiet, but from what Carly had seen in the week she had been in Yakima, Nell was obviously a science genius.

"Yeah, I've seen you too. You really to seem to hate it."

"I do, but if I don't get all A's my grandfather's going to make me give up my cell phone for a year." Carly couldn't afford to get her cell phone taken away from her. It was her only connection to her friends. Freddie was always willing to talk, and she sometimes had a hard time trying to get off the phone with him. Sam would only talk with Carly for a few minutes, as it was obvious that she resented Carly for "leaving her." And Spencer wouldn't even answer the phone. Freddie reported that Spencer had dove into a depression after Carly had left and the only thing to get him out of it was for him to do his art day and night. He had locked himself in his apartment, working.

"Well, if you want, I can tutor you." Nell gave her a mischievous grin. "It can make up for ruining the t-shirt."

"Great!" Carly exclaimed, suddenly feeling better than she had felt in a week. "Do you want to come over today? This is where I live."

"Cool. Hey, this is a few blocks from where my house!" Nell grinned again. "We'll get you all ready for that big science test next week." And with that, the lunch bell rang and the two girls went their separate ways.

* * *

"Wow. It's so much bigger than I expected." Nell stepped into the foyer of Carly's house, looking all around, eyes wide.

"Why? Haven't you ever passed this street?" Carly said. "You said it was only a little bit away from your house."

"Yeah, but I never go down your street. It's too much bad luck for me." Nell took off her coat, shivered and put it back on. It was mid-October and the big house was cold.

"What do you mean bad luck?" Carly asked. She gave a small laugh. "What, is my street haunted?"

"Nope, just your house." Nell said pleasantly, examining a picture of a rather depressed woman that hung by a huge wooden staircase that led upstairs.

"My house?" Carly asked, now genially interested.

"Oh come on, you know the story!" Nell said, rolling her eyes. "Everyone that moves here hears it."

Carly shook her head. "No, I've never heard of it."

"Really?" Nell tilted her head. "People are going to be all over you if they know you live in this house. Are you sure _nobody's_ told you yet?"

"Told me what?!" Carly asked excitedly.

"Well, ghosts….haunt your house. Not ghosts exactly, but souls."

"What!" Carly shouted.

"It's just a rumor!" Nell tried to calm Carly down. "But- They say that your house, it's- it's haunted with the souls," Nell took a deep breath, "with the souls of dead people - that have died in here."

As Nell turned to face Carly, Carly paled a bit. She could tell that Nell was serious, that she and the whole town actually believed this. And if they didn't, then they sure didn't show it.

* * *

That night, after Nell had gone and her granddad had left for a school meeting, Carly walked around the house.

After Nell's story, Carly didn't see an old Victorian house that had been handed down for years from Shay to Shay. She now saw a house brimming with possibilities of danger and mystery. Carly was starving for a good adventure in this boring town, and Nell had given her the key to one.

"Hello? Dead spirits? If you're there, please show yourself!" Carly rolled her eyes. That was a stupid attempt. She hadn't actually expected dead people to come flying out of the walls.

"Please? I don't want to hurt you. I just want to see if you exist!" After a half hour of searching, Carly finally gave up and went to go call Freddie.

"Are you positive Spencer's okay?" Carly was pacing around the house, talking to Freddie worryingly. "I mean, how do you know he's not hurt if he hasn't come out of the apartment at all?"

"I hear bangs and crashes, which mean he's still alive and working on his art. I promise if I make it through one night without my mom pounding on his door and demanding he stop making her miss her beauty sleep, I'll go check. I'd be more worried about Sam if I were you."

"What's wrong with Sam?"

"She turned totally rebel. I'm serious. She does all this horrible stuff and doesn't even try to pin it on someone else."

Carly rubbed her tired eyes. "I'll try to talk to her tomorrow. Her and Spencer."

"Good luck."

"Listen Freddie, I've got to get ready for bed. I'll call you tomorrow."

"Five more minutes?"

"Freddie!"

"Fine. Bye."

"Bye."

Carly walked towards her room, but stopped when she heard the sound of running water coming from her bathroom. Granddad wasn't back yet, and she hadn't left the water on before. Maybe Nell had left it on.

She walked slowly into dark room, and flipped the light switch on. She looked around and found that the sound of water was coming from the shower. She turned it off and turned around.

And screamed.

* * *

"Nell, I need you to come over NOW."

"Carly, I just left your house 4 hours ago. Tell me you really aren't that worried about the science test."

"No, but I really need you. It's serious. Tell your parents that you're sleeping over here tonight."

"Carly, what's going o-"

"I'll tell you when you get here."

Carly hung up and began to pace nervously around the house. It would take at least 10 minutes for Nell to pack up her stuff and get here. She needed someone else to be here…

Reaching into her sweater pocket, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed Spencer's number. It was disconnected.

Carly sighed half irritated, half sad and dialed Sam's number. It ringed three times, and Carly felt her heart leap as Sam picked it up on the fourth ring.

"What?" Sam's voice was a little gruffer than usual, but Carly ignored it, trying to remember what Freddie had told her about Sam.

"Sam?"

"Carly?"

"Sam……..are you okay?" Carly knew it was the wrong thing to say, but she couldn't help it. She couldn't think of anything else to say.

"I'm fine." Carly winced at her tone, but decided that maybe if she played it natural, then Sam would loosen up a bit.

"I can't believe Granddad made me move here. I mean, my science teacher is like Ms. Brigg's evil twin, but I got someone to help me in science…"

"That's great. Nice to see you're replacing us already." Sam's sarcastic happy tone stung Carly as she heard it.

"Replacing us?"

"Yes! Us! Or have you forgotten our names already?! Me, Freddie, Spencer! We do nothing except try to get over that you're gone and already you've gone and got yourself a new best friend!"

"Sam it's not like that!" Carly tried to talk, but Sam cut in, words spilling out of her mouth.

"Do you know how miserable Spencer is without you? Or how Freddie barely talks to anyone anymore? When are you going to start up iCarly again? Because I'm sure that your new "science friend" can take over that too."

"Sam!" Was all Carly could get out before the defining _click _sounded.

Carly sat slowly down on the floor, putting her head in between her knees, rocking back and worth like a little child. She couldn't do this, she couldn't just leave everyone she loved behind like they were nothing… All the while a silent manta spun and ringed in her head. '_Don't break down Carly, don't break down……'_

But if it hadn't been for Nell ringing the doorbell at that very moment, Carly wasn't sure what she would have done. For a moment, she had been hanging onto her slight sliver of control, and had almost lost it. That scared her almost as much as what she had seen in the bathroom.

The redhead looked curious and a little unnerved as Carly opened the door.

"What's going on?" She asked, one eyebrow slightly lifted, a curious yet patronizing expression on her face.

Carly didn't say anything, but just turned and walked away to the bathroom, Nell trotting after her.

"Carly? Carly what's going on- WHAT IS THAT?"

Carly's bathroom mirror had become fogged up from the heat of the shower, letting someone trace a picture Carly with a dagger stuck in her heart. Blood was running down her body, and next to the picture someone had written in choppy writing: _You're next_.

**How was that for a first chapter! Oh, and congrats on all the people writing and reading iCarly stories for this website. It's a really new show and already we've got our own section. Help it grow!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry about how long it took to post this. I wanted to make it longer, but I didn't want to keep you waiting even more. I don't own iCarly. I am also going to be adding slight bits of trivia in with my author's note. This is sort of like how the story was dreamed up.**

**Trivia: Nell was originally dreamed up when I decided that Carly needed someone to help her in the chapters ahead (and believe me, she will need help!). I gave her a slight weight problem so as to make her a misfit, thus giving her a reason not to pick on Carly (who is also a misfit) and so as not to drag any friends of Nell's that she would have had into the story.**

"So the only thing we have to go on is that ghost story you told me?" Carly demanded, flipping through a history book. "Are you sure there's nothing that can help us?"

"I haven't found anything on the internet that can help us." Nell admitted with a sigh. She turned from Carly's computer. "Carly, it's 2:00 in the morning. Can't we just go to sleep?"

"It's Friday night, we have the weekend. And I'm_ not _going to bed until I find out what attacked me." Carly angrily replied.

Nell moaned, flopping down on her sleeping bag. "Just a few minutes of sleep. It's not going to kill you."

Carly was about to reply when she heard a loud bump outside her door. Putting a finger to her lips, she grabbed a high heeled shoe and tiptoed to her door. Nell gave an unhappy whimper, but followed.

Carly raised her hand, mouthing "_3…2…1!" _ And then shoved the door open, raising the shoe over her head. She gave a heavy sigh of relief as she saw that there was nobody outside her door.

"Maybe it was your grandfather?" Nell asked.

"No, granddad was supposed to be home ages ago." Carly replied, still holding the shoe.

"Then where is he?" Carly turned to stare at Nell, who had her arms crossed and a dubious expression on her face. It just occurred to Carly how strange it was for her granddad to not have come home by now. And he thought Spencer was irresponsible?

"Maybe……the meeting ran long?" She suggested weakly.

"Carly, may I repeat. It…is ... 2…in…the…morning. No school would ever have a meeting run that late."

"But if he was the one making the noise, then why didn't we hear the door open?" Carly argued, switching tactics.

Nell shrugged, but then a look of horror came over her face. "Carly-what if a ghost made that noise?"

"A ghost? Nell, I seriously doubt that a ghost would Ding Dong Ditch my door. It seemed like the ghost who wrote in the mirror was trying to tell me something."

"Tell you something? I thought that it just wanted to kill you?" Nell began to take a few steps forward, looking around the hallway.

"I know I should be thinking that, but it feels like the danger isn't the ghosts, you know what I mean? It feels like the danger is around me, and the ghosts are just trying to show it." Carly closed her eyes and put her palms to her head, trying to sort out the crazy emotions and intuitions that were flashing through her brain.

"Yeah, cause painting a picture of you bleeding to death is perfectly normal. I mean, whoever drew that _obviously _doesn't want to stick a dagger in your heart. It just means that someone _else _wants to do that. Carly face reality. The ghosts are trying TO KILL YOU!" Nell shouted, shaking her by the shoulders.

"No they aren't!" Carly broke away, walking faster and faster now, not knowing her destination but feeling like someone was guiding her. Suddenly, she stopped. Looking down, she saw she was on the huge staircase. She simply stood there dumbly for a few seconds, then there was a splintering of wood and her feet slowly started to sink into the stairs. Carly screamed and tried to move, but it felt like someone was pressing down on her shoulders, trying to make her stay.

Nell ran for Carly and reached out a hand to help her, but was too late and Carly slipped through the staircase and fell into the blackness.

* * *

Normally, Yakima Junior High was a busy place, full of hundreds of kids and shouting and laughing. Tonight, however, a more serious ceremony was being held. 

Men and woman of all different ages, shapes and sizes were sitting in the cafeteria where, just a few hours before, Carly was being mocked. They formed a circle, standing rigorously. In the middle was a man in his 70's, a serious, yet slightly smug expression on his face. The other, who was a young man in his early 30's, stood next to him. Unlike his companion, who was very short, this man was huge. He loomed over the group with terrifying like authority, using his height to his advantage. His eyes, which were ice black, shiftily and swiftly moved over the group, looking for fear and disobedience. Luckily for them, he found none. Everyone seemed to have a completely blank look on their face. When he finally opened his mouth to speak, though, you could almost sense the relief throughout the room.

"Our searching has come to an end. We have finally found a proper sacrifice. She meets all the requirements, and we soon will have the proper soul for the feeding. We are extremely lucky that we found her, and that she was so easily attainted. We are already cutting it close choosing the victim, that if we mess up during ceremony, we will surly be punished."

Nobody spoke, but everyone's faces slid into true fear. After a few minutes, the man spoke again.

"If anyone messes up their jobs, then I will not hesitate to punish whoever they are, or if possible, kill. However, to make sure you don't make a mistake, Charles here will help with the capture and killing of the sacrifice."

Charles Shay moved forwards, obviously happy to step into the limelight, to be important. If you spent enough time around Mr. Shay, and saw the true side of him, you would see that his kind face was really an act, and that his caring attitude was simply the mask of his true soul. In reality, Charles loved nothing more than to control and command. Seeing someone at their lowest point, groveling at his feet was what really made him feel important and happy. Right now, he was in his area of expertise. Everything was relaying on him, and if he left out a scrap of information, then they would all surly parish.

"I am honored to have my granddaughter become the next sacrifice. Like Mr. Duncan said," and here Charles nodded his head in the direction of the huge man who was standing just feet away from him, "she fulfills all the requirements. She is young, smart, creative, loving and her soul is the purest I have seen out of all our victims. She might even last us more than a year."

At this, the group remained silent once more, but expressions of surprise registered on their face, and they even dared to look around at one another, their eyes bright and excited. No sacrifice had ever lasted them more than a year.

Here Duncan stepped forward. "Can you be sure of this Charles?"

"Absolutely. I have presented my theory to you before. If someone's soul is pure enough, then they can be of much more use than the normal person. "

Duncan shook his head and retreated. Charles cleared his throat and continued. "My granddaughter's one true weakness is her friends. She will call her friends the minute we try to capture her. I need someone to disable the internet and phone service in my house 24 hours before we strike. I also warn you, her friends are not unintelligent. If she reports any misuse of us to them before the ceremony, then they will try and investigate. However, they could be used as leverage in dire circumstances. Although I doubt that will happen. After all, she is not more intelligent than the other sacrifices, just more pure."

Finally, looking to make the most of his big moment, he drew himself up and looked everyone, including Duncan, in the eye. "Be ready, for we strike soon."

* * *

As Carly fell through the hole, she prepared to have her body hit the rough floor that was beneath, and for her to feel horrible pain. But she didn't expect to feel dirt in her mouth, or to only fall a few feet. 

She stood up, looking around curiously. It looked like an underground cavern. It was carved out of rock. The floor was smooth, cleared of all pebbles and bumps. The ceiling was high and rocks hung in the shape of daggers hung down from it. A large underground river ran through a delicately, yet deep carved stone path. It was so deep Carly couldn't see the water, but heard the rushing of it. It calmed her down, and let her relax while she tried to inspect the cave a bit more. There were tunnels on the walls. She peered into one, but couldn't see anything.

"Carly?" Nell called out, looking down into the hole.

"Nell! Over here!" Carly waved an arm to show her she was fine.

A second later, Nell had landed in the hole and was walking over to Carly. "What is this place?"

"Beats me." Carly then squinted her eyes. How could she see Nell? The light from above in the house wasn't bright enough. That's when she noticed that Nell and the whole cavern seemed to be cast in a bluish light. Carly turned towards the river path, looked into it, and gasped.

The river was giving off the light. But whatever was in the river wasn't water. Carly slowly started forward, looking down into it. It was beautiful. Carly could gather that much. It was a beautiful white, mixed with fragments and streaks of the palest blue. They flowed and twisted along the pathway. As Carly got closer, she suddenly felt a rush of happiness swoop over her. It lasted for a second, then it was replaced with a sweep of sorrow. Then depression. Then joy. It didn't stop!

Emotions kept running through her. She closed her eyes and embraced them, taking the good with the bad, feeling like they were some missing part of her life she had been searching for since she got here…

"Whoa." Nell, wide-eyed, stared into the path.


	4. Chapter 4

**I don't own iCarly.**

**Trivia: I would say that if I had to chose a song for this chapter, it would be "Runaway" by Linkin Park. **

**Wow, I actully had to make myself stop writing for frear this chapter would be too long. I hope you like it. **

"Carly?" Nell's voice was high-pitched as she looked to her friend. "Why are you so happy about dead bodies?"

"What dead bodies?" Carly asked with a giggle as she got closer and closer to the edge of the underground river.

"Carly? Carly!" Nell screamed as Carly almost fell into the river, Nell managing to grab her shirt. "Carly, there are dead bodies down there!" Looking into the pit, Nell let out a gasp of disgust. She could barely tell that the decaying objects down there were bodies, they looked to have been there for so long.

"All I see are lights." And as Nell looked at Carly's eyes, glazed over and dazed, she knew something was very wrong.

"Carly, let's get out of here, okay?" Nell said nervously.

"No." Carly murmured, reaching out a hand to touch nothing. She smoothed her hands over nothing, like she was petting a puppy. Nell wondered if she should go take Carly to the hospital. She was sure that Carly had hit her head a little too hard in that fall.

"Carly, please, let's go!" Nell pleaded desperately.

"No, please stay." The voice came out of nowhere and Nell and Carly whirled around to see Carly's granddad, his expression agitated, his hands nervously twisting an old butcher knife.

"Granddad?" Carly's voice came out in a whisper, but Nell was relieved to see her eyes had lost their dreamy look and now were filled with panic.

"This is too early." He said, shaking his head. "Carly, what are you doing in here?"

"What are you doing with that knife?" Carly asked frantically. "Granddad, what's going on?"

"Answer me first! What are you doing down here?" He demanded.

Carly simply stared at him, then turned and broke into a full run, dragging Nell behind her.

"Carly! Get back here!" Carly could still hear his frantic cries as she ran into a tunnel, not stopping for anything. The tunnel was so big she didn't even have to crouch down to move through it. She could see the tunnel perfectly and when she looked up, she saw that torches lined the very highest points of the walls. She could heard footsteps behind her and knew that her granddad had followed them.

"We're going to die, we're going to die." Nell whimpered as she ran. Suddenly, they came to a crossroads. They had emerged in another, smaller cavern, this time with no underground lake but with tunnels reaching out in every direction.

"Carly, he's coming!" Nell squeaked as they both heard Granddad's wheezes and soft swearing.

"This way!" Carly grabbed Nell's hand and tore through a tunnel at random. After running for a few minutes, they began to stop.

"That…was…the…worst." Nell managed to get out, holding her side. When she finally managed to get her breath back, she turned to Carly.

"Why is your granddad going all psycho on us? Wait- Insanity doesn't run in your family, right?" She asked Carly, who just gave her an irritated look. "What- I had to check!"

"Do you think he knew which way we went?" Carly asked, when a loud thumping sound interrupted her.

"That would be a yes."

The two sprinted off, until they finally they ran into a rock wall. "Ok, this time we're_ really _going to die." Nell said.

Carly felt pure fear grip her, but suddenly, an unknown force seemed to grip her head and turn it upward. There, she saw a staircase, carved out of the stone in the wall a few feet above the ground. The stairs lead to a trapdoor in the roof of the tunnel. She pushed Nell towards it, and they shared a wordless glance. Nell crouched down and Carly managed to get up on her and get to the stairs. She reached down and grabbed Nell's hands, trying to pull her up. Carly managed to get her a few feet off of the ground, but didn't have the strength to pull her up to the stairs. Suddenly, she saw her granddad in the distance, sprinting towards them.

"Carly… You have to drop me." Carly looked down into Nell's terrified face.

"No way!" She pulled harder, but she still didn't have the strength. She was too tired from running, and her granddad was getting closer.

"Carly, if you don't leave he's going to get both of us!" Nell said, eyes urgent.

"No!" Carly said, but even as she said these words, she felt Nell's hands slipping. She squeezed tighter, pulled, and Nell unexpectedly flew up to join her.

"How did you do that?" Nell asked.

"Me? That was you!"

"No, it wasn't. I felt myself slipping, and then you just pulled me up!" But both girls were distracted by Granddad running up to the stairs.

"Don't worry." Carly reassured Nell. "He'll never make it up here." But even as they watched, Granddad reached for a huge rock by the wall, and began to push it over to the stairs.

Nell looked on in disbelief. "How the heck did we not think of that?" She ran up the stairs with Carly. Then, she turned at the last moment, paused, and then ran back down and pushed her foot on Granddad's head just as he was climbing onto the stairs. He toppled back, hitting his back on the rock, and fell to the ground, motionless.

Nell stood there motionless, too. She was perplexed and slightly scared. She had never hurt another human being before. Even though he was probably trying to kill her and Carly, she looked at him with remorse.

They both pushed open the trapdoor to find themselves under a bed. They looked around, nervous by this sudden change of environment. But they squirmed out from under the bed. It was almost morning and they could see two people in bed, thankfully still asleep. The girls crept towards the door, slipping out. They managed to get out of the house easily, and once out, ran for their lives.

"What do we do now?" Nell asked, huffing.

"We've got to go home. My home, I mean." Carly corrected. "Let's go back to Granddad's house."

"What? Are you nuts?!"

"Nell, you knocked him out pretty good, and we need a ride. I hope you took driving lessons."

"Carly, I'm 14!" Still, she obediently followed Carly back towards the house. As Carly slowed to a walk through the town, the early morning risers of Yakima began to turn and look at her. They didn't remove their eyes from her face, and just stood there, staring without emotion.

"Keep walking." Carly whispered to Nell. But just as they were a few blocks from Carly's house, she broke into a run.

Without a word, the watchers ran after them. Carly swerved into an ally, dragging Nell with her.

"Carly, what are you doing? This isn't like one of those cartoons were everyone just runs right past-" She was cut off by Carly running right back out, and into the streets.

Nell's eyes widened as she realized that Carly was sacrificing herself so that Nell could get help for the both of them. She was on her own.

* * *

Carly ran along the streets of Yakima as hard as she could, but was slowing down. She really should have taken Nell's advice and just gone to sleep last night. As she ran towards her house, she stumbled, and something flew out of her sweater pocket. She realized that it was her cell phone, and grabbed it before running off again. 

Trembling, she pushed the speed dial for Sam's phone, and it began to ring.

* * *

Sam looked at her cell phone as she woke up. Carly. Huh, it took her long enough to call. For a second, she looked at the caller I.D., then sighed and flipped open her phone. 

"Yeah?"

"SAM! HELP!" Yikes, Carly sounded very…not like Carly.

"Carly, what's wrong?"

"Sam, Yakima's crazy. Granddad has a knife, and a secret trap door, and I'm running from the whole town."

Sam sighed. How did she get the whole town mad at her? Even Sam had never accomplished that feat. And what the heck was the junk about a knife and trapdoor? But this might actually be important. "Okay, what wrong?" She said in her most bored voice.

"I…I can't explain right now." 'Then why did you call?' Sam mentally asked her. "But you have to come up to Yakima. You, Freddie, Spencer, I need you guys!"

"Carly, it's 5:30 in the morning, you better have a good reason for calling, let alone trying to make me come to Yakima!"

"Sam this isn't a joke ple…" Carly's voice was suddenly gone and Sam heard sounds of static before the cell phone became silent.

"Carly? Carly!" She hung up, looked at the clock and sighed. Whoopee. A field trip to Yakima. But she should probably go just in case there really was trouble. Not that Carly was her friend anymore, but just in case.

Just in case.

* * *

Author's Note: In recent news, I have a bleated Christmas present for you guys. That's right, it's a bright, shinny new……….story! I'm working on the trailer. If you like this story, then you'll love my new story. 

WhiteIce


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note: Trivia: Okay, please know that anything I say about Yakima, I make up for the story. Except the distance from Seattle to Yakima. I Maquested that distance. Sorry if I offended anyone from Yakima out there.

P.S. They'll probably be another chapter up in a couple of days, so keep your eyes open!

I don't own iCarly.

* * *

"Freddie, Freddie, wake up!" Sam shook Freddie awake, rolling her eyes. 'The things I do for my best friend.' Or ex-best friend, she corrected herself.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh! Sam, did you get in my room?" Freddie scrambled away from her. "Mom's going to kill you!"

"Freddie, I got a call from Carly. Apparently her town's gone all berserk on her, and she wants us to come help her. Figures." At this Freddie jumped out of bed, causing Sam to fall on the floor. "Hey!"

"Carly's in trouble? We've got to help her!"

"No duh dipstick." Sam muttered, still fuming about being woken up at 5:30. "First things first, how are we going to get Spencer to help us? He's locked up in his apartment."

"Don't worry about that." Freddie grabbed a key from under his pillow. "I've got a spare key to Carly's apartment."

Sam's eyebrows raised. "Does Carly know you have that?"

"Ummmmm….."

"You are so pathetic."

"Yeah." Freddie ducked his head sheepishly. "Now let's go save Carly!" Then he stopped and looked down at his pajamas. "Just as soon as I get changed."

Sam rolled her eyes and walked over to Carly's apartment, finding inside an exhausted Spencer and several new sculptures. He was currently asleep with in the arms of a sculpture. It looked like he had been painting it, and then collapsed from exhaustion. Sam raised her eyebrows in amusement. She tapped Spencer on the shoulder. No movement. Rolling her eyes, she moved in close to Spencer's ear.

"Spencer. Spencer! SPENCER!"

"Whoa!" That certainly seemed to wake him up. Then he noticed Sam. "What are you doing here?" He began to go back to sleep.

"Spencer, listen. I got a phone call from Carly this morning saying that she was in trouble."

"Trouble? What kind of trouble?" Spencer began to get up, shaking off the bits of his sculpture.

* * *

"She mentioned something about a knife and your granddad and-" But she didn't even finish before Spencer was out of the apartment and halfway down the staircase. She and Freddie ran to join him. It was time to get Carly back.

Carly was doomed, she knew it. She had dropped her cell phone and Sam and the others wouldn't be able to get here for a few hours. Meanwhile, the mob was closing in on her. She was too tired to outrun them, and she had already stumbled several times, allowing the mob to get closer.

She finally made to Granddad's house, and stumbled up the steps before running into the foyer of the house, slamming the door and locking it. She managed to walk a few steps to hide behind the large staircase. She was safe, if only for a few minutes. Carly felt tears of relief beginning to form in her eyes, but the exhaustion caught up to her and she began to fall asleep. Then a cold hand grasped her shoulder and pulled her up, nearly making her fall over again. She managed to right herself, the hand still on her shoulder, and looked around. She let out a scream as Granddad looked down on her with cold fury.

"This was much sooner than I expected. There isn't the time to do it properly, but it must be done. Yes, before anyone can find out anything. Yes, it has to be done. Has to." He was mumbling more to himself than to Carly. She tried to pull out of his grip, but he simply grabbed her wrists and shoved them behind her back. By now Carly's tiredness was too much to help her fight back, and all she could do was kick and scream as Granddad took some rope out of his pocket and tied her wrists together with it.

Carly finally managed to get in a weak kick to his knee, which made him let go of her for a second, but then he steadied his grip and slammed her to the floor, tying her ankles too.

Then he went to the front door and opened it. From her position on the floor, Carly could see all the members of the mob positioned on the front porch. She screamed loudly.

"Somebody help me! Help m-" Her voice was cut off as someone's rough hands shoved a gag in her mouth, and a blindfold was put over her eyes. Then she felt herself in strong arms, which made her feel even more nervous. Her thoughts went to Nell, and her friends back in Seattle. Her life was in their hands. She just hoped that they could reach her in time.

* * *

"What am I going to do? What am I going to do? Think Nell. Think!" Nell was currently doing what she did best: freaking out. But she was also determined. Even though she had only known Carly for a few short hours, she was going to help her. Carly had treated her better than anyone ever had in years.

She ran down the streets of Yakima, careful to keep her eyes open. Then a flashy store caught her eye. It was her favorite bookstore, the one she always went to when she had to escape the bullies. An idea sprouted in her mind, and she walked in. Luckily, no one was in the building, as they had probably all left to join in the manhunt for Carly. Nell made her way to the history section in the back of the store.

It was there that she found the book wrapped in black binding and purple lettering. "A History of Yakima" the title read. She had never found the subject of the town where she had experienced fifteen years of pain to be any fun, so she had never paid any attention to it. But now…

She flipped through the book until a single line made her stop still. "Proudly, Yakima has one of the lowest death rates in the country."

Hadn't she never seen any funerals when she passed the graveyard on her way home from school? Why was there only one funeral parlor in town, why almost no one seemed to die of old age? And why, and this stopped her blood, why some people just seemed to stop changing. There would be hair and wrinkles growing and then….it was like they were a statue. Never changing, always the same. She had first noticed this tendency in her third grade teacher. Her hair was always growing at alarmingly fast rates, but then one day it stopped. When someone had asked, her teacher had just replied that she had found an extremely good hairdresser that she went to once a week, and left it at that.

Nell's eyebrows nit in confusion. Although she had no reason to, she thought that this might be connected with Carly. After all, why else would random people be chasing her through the town? Was it possible that they were using Carly…

But Nell shook the thought out of her eyes. Whatever it was that they were doing, she wasn't going to stop them and help Carly just by standing around here.

Running out of the shop with the book tucked under her arm, Nell realized that she needed more help. She couldn't fight off half the town by herself.

As if on cue, a car roared into the town square, nearly hitting her, and out stepped three people, who Nell had seen in pictures in Carly's room.

A blond haired girl took a look at her and asked, "Do you know where Carly Shay is?"

**The cavalry has arrived! And if anyone can save Carly, I'll bet it's Sam, she ready to rock. And you're going to see a really different side of Spencer in the next few chapters. Nobody hurts his little sister. So until the next time,**

_WhiteIce_


	6. Chapter 6

**I don't own iCarly. And thank you for all of your wonderful reviews. Sorry I've been gone for a bit.**

* * *

Spencer felt worry and anger coursing through his veins. He knew his little sister extremely well, almost better than even Sam or Freddie. Carly wouldn't have called so early in the morning unless she was in real, serious trouble. Something was really wrong with Carly, and it wasn't just homesickness. However, for Sam and Freddie's sake, he tried not to let his real feelings show. If they knew just how much danger Carly probably was in right now, they would panic, and that wouldn't help them – or Carly – at all. 

Right now, they were talking to the only person that seemed to be around in the abandoned town; a tiny, rather plump redhead who called herself Nell. When she had heard that they had come to save Carly, she looked ready to cry with happiness, which Spencer took as a bad sign. How much trouble could Carly have gotten into? As Spencer listened to Nell's retelling of the past events that had happened to her and Carly, Spencer couldn't help but get more and more agitated. Why hadn't Carly called him earlier with this? 

'Because you were pouting. You weren't there for her. You're a horrible guardian, even when Carly isn't with you. Granddad was right.' Spencer felt a hot wave of shame sweep through him. He tried to distract himself by focusing on Nell.

"And I went through this book on Yakima, you know, to try and find out why people are acting so weird. If I'm going to find anything on Yakima, it would be in their history. And I think I found something on death and …" Nell handed the book to Spencer, and he knelt down to read the passage that Nell pointed to. Nell watched their expressions turn from disbelief to shock. Freddie looked up from the book.

"You think this way Carly was taken?" He asked.

"Makes as much sense as anything else does around here." Nell pointed out, spreading her arms out for an example.

"Shrimp's got a point." Sam tilted her head, looking at Nell properly now. 

"Say this was true, where would they take Carly?" Spencer asked desperately.

A happier time ago, Nell would have been able to not think of a single place, but now she knew better. "In the basement of Carly's granddad's house, he has some sort of chamber. That might be where everybody is…" She barely got the words out of her mouth when Spencer took off running for Granddad's house, leaving Sam, Nell and Freddie to rush after him.

He burst through the open front door and into the foyer, his eyes scanning everywhere for some sign of Carly. 

"Spencer!" Spencer turned to see his Granddad looking startled and …scared?

"What are you doing here?" 

"You said I could drop in whenever I wanted." Spencer noticed how odd he probably appeared. Sweaty, breathless, looking like he had run a mile…

"Carly… Does not wish to see you." 

"What?" Spencer was faintly aware of Freddie, Sam and Nell running up behind him. He felt slightly more hopeful. If Carly didn't want to see him – and who would, seeing as he was such a failure as a guardian? – then she would surely want to see her friends. 

"Like I said, she does not wish to see y-"

"SPENCER!!" Everyone turned, trying to locate the sound and Spencer's body froze as he heard Carly's voice rip through the silence of the house, desperate and pleading. 

"In here!" To Spencer's astonishment, the redhead called Nell ran towards the stairs and lifted up a stair to reveal a trapdoor, which she jumped into. He ran up and jumped in. He felt himself flying through the air, and then hitting rough solid ground. 

"Spencer!" Spencer heard his name being called. He looked around, and saw to his horror,_his little sister _lying bound on the ground. 

"Carly!" He ran to her, untying her, then enfolding her in a hug. He could feel Carly's body trembling against his, making his blood boil. What had happened to her?

* * *

Carly knew it was over. She couldn't move or speak. At least the blindfold was off. She had managed to shake it off, and nobody had bothered to put it back on. After all, she had already seen where they were taking her. Granddad's cronies had lugged her back into the underground cavern, and were lurking around everywhere. Even if Nell had managed to get help in time, they wouldn't be able to fight through practically half the town. 

Then she heard footsteps and Granddad's voice up above, anxious. Suddenly, she heard another voice, warm and familiar. She knew she had just one chance. She jutted her head back, letting the scarf go limp, and then thrust her head as hard as she could above the rough fabric. She saw out of the corner of her eye people running towards her, and yelled with all her fear and emotion, "SPENCER!!"

The voices broke off, and then she heard the stair door being opened, and Nell's high voice yelping "In here!" A few moments later, she landed on the dirt floor. Out of the shadows, men and women began to advance on her. Carly wanted to yell a warning, but before she could, another person landed in the cavern. He was a contrast to the small girl, big and lanky. His appearance managed to send the people back into the shadows, making them watch and wait to see what happened, instead of just pouncing immediately. 

Spencer. Her brother. He was here. Carly's mind struggled to make sense of what was happening, when she heard voices up above, then several loud thumps. Looking over Spencer's shoulder, she saw Sam and Freddie join Nell. They looked shell shocked. Carly wanted to do the brave thing and call out for them to leave, but just as she was about to three burly men and women jumped from the shadows and grabbed them. 

At once each of Carly's friends began to scream and fight back. Sam, using her nails, managed to make such deep scratches on her attacker's arms that he dropped her in surprise. She started towards Freddie and Nell, to help them with their attackers, until she unexpectedly turned and ran for the other side of the cavern. 

"Sam? What the heck are you doing?! Help us!" Freddie roared, trying to kick the huge man holding him, but missing and getting only thin air. 

"Silence." With this word, the cavern immediately went silent. Everyone turned to see who had spoken. Even Sam, who was still running over to the wall, turned, looked and began running silently again. 

Carly's grip tightened on Spencer as she saw her grandfather come forward towards her. This time his weapon of choice was a long dagger was a slanted point at the end. On the handle, Carly could see numerous symbols and engravings. For the first time Carly took in just how wild he looked. Rumpled hair, bright eyes, his forehead still bleeding from where he had fallen on the rock. When he spoke, his voice was several pitches higher than from when she had last heard him, probably from strain.

"Get away from her." He eyed Spencer, who only hugged Carly closer protectively. 

"Well, now I see why you never wanted Carly and I to come over, you probably had a heck of a time hiding the underground chamber." Spencer, her face dead as her looked at his grandfather.

"You stupid little boy. You have no idea, no idea whatsoever, of what you are disturbing. This is an ancient ceremony that has been performed for many years now, and I WILL NOT LET IT BE WASTED ON THE LIKES OF YOU." And with that, Granddad jumped forward, trying to reach around Spencer to get to Carly, but Spencer kicked him back with one foot. As if on cue, more men and women began to pour in from around the chamber, circling Carly and Spencer. 

"What's going on?" Carly asked, wanting to help Spencer fight off their attackers, and at the same time wanting to just go on sitting there, helpless. But she got up, and started to curl up her hands into fists. She thought she heard a man chuckle.

"Very feisty, just like her grandfather. It's a pity she has to die."

At this Carly felt Spencer's body tense and heard Nell and Freddie's simultaneous screams of horror. However, she tried to make the best of a bad situation. Maybe she could get something out of this.

"Before I die, does someone want to tell me what I'm dieing for?" Carly felt herself blush as she heard her voice trembling. 

"Oh, come on Charles. Let the kid in on the secret." She could hear amusement in another voice, this time a woman's. 

"The other children-"

"It's not like we're going to let them live anyway." Carly felt her blood turn cold. She hadn't thought they were just going to let everyone go, but it hadn't crossed her mind that her friends were in just as much danger as she was. She had almost accepted her fate, but the thought that everyone else would die sent cold fear racing into her body. 

"Well, alright." A cruel smile appeared on Charles' face. "I'm going to kill you Carly. I've been planning to for quite a while now. It's a bit of a hassle, but it has to be done. You see, it's part of an ancient tradition. The sacrifice of one pure soul, for the lives of many.

Carly couldn't breathe.

"For as long as this town has been formed, we have had a deal with a high power. For the sacrifice of one innocent, pure human soul, we would be permitted one year of life. As long as we give this sacrifice, our hearts simply stop, and we are kept alive by this power. We can live forever if it suits us. Which is where you come in Carly. 

"I have never seen another soul as pure as yours, which is precisely why you came to live with me. That's another gift we get from this power, you know, the ablitliy to see souls and their purity. Perhaps the power might give us more than a year of life if we give it your soul." Charles advanced on Carly and Spencer, who flung himself in front of his little sister. 

"That lake of – of glowing – that was human -" Carly was having a hard time getting the words out. 

"Ah, yes you saw that. How fascinating." Although he didn't stop walking towards her, Charles lowered the dagger just slightly, out of interest. "That is where we store the dead bodies. But apparently instead of bodies you saw souls. It has been also noted that the others who were sacrificed could also see the souls. But no matter."

'It does matter.' Carly thought. Everything seemed to click now. 'They were the ones who painted that picture on my mirror, showed me the way when Nell and I were running, they were the ones who gave me the strength when I needed it. I was right, they weren't trying to kill me, they were trying to warn me!'

But just as those thoughts finished running through her mind, Charles ran forward, shoved Spencer aside and plunged his dagger into Carly's stomach. 

Carly could hear Nell's high squeal, Freddie's yelp and Spencer's shout of "NO! CARLY!"

But then the symbols on the dagger began to light up, and mutli-colored air was floating out of her, all over, and she knew it was over, her soul was not hers anymore. 


End file.
